Gone Camping
by Empyrisan
Summary: Artha, his friends, some of the Down City crew members and their dragons go camping outside Dragon City for a break from racing and possibly fighting. While camping in the forests, they begin fishing, hiking and they even do some wildlife encountering...
1. Pack Up For The Trip

A second Dragon Booster fanfic! Don't worry, I didn't abandoned _The Leader of the Pack_!

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Booster!

Enjoy!

* * *

**Pack Up For The Trip**

Early in the morning before the sun rose, Artha was in the kitchen, reaching into the refrigerator to gather a few water bottles, the jar of peanut butter, a loaf of bread and a few other things to pack into his cooler. Beside the dinning table were his other backpack, stuffed with extra clothes, his toothbrush and toothpaste, a sleeping bag, a flashlight and couple other things that will be needed where he and his brother will be going. Lance was sitting at the dinning table, his wide eyes focused on playing his favorite vidd-game, Battle-Ground Dragon. A couple roaring sounds could be heard, but they weren't loud. Lance had to keep down the volume to prevent having their dad wake up.

"Why are we going camping, Artha?" Lance asked lazily again since yesterday afternoon, his eyes barely looking away from the bright, green screen in front of him.

"Because Dad said we had to go out more often," Artha replied, followed by a tired yawn as he carefully packed a jar of grape jelly into the cooler,"And to get off the vidd-games, too."

"Are Kitt and Parm coming, too?" Lance asked.

"Yep," Artha answered as he opened up a cabinet and pulled out a bag of marshmellows.

"Are Down City crews coming?" the little brother asked again.

"Just the leader of each crew...maybe they'll bring another person from their team to come with us," Artha replied as he closed the lid of the cooler and hauled it to the front door.

"And why are we bringing Moordryd and Cain?" Lance asked, curious of why they would even think about having them come along.

"So they won't cause any trouble in the city," Artha said as he walked back into the kitchen get the lantern.

"And are the dragons coming, too?" Lance asked one more.

"Yes, Lance, the dragons are coming with us. Now turn off the game," the older brother said as he struggled to put on his large backpack, having one strap around his left shoulder while his other arm was reaching for the other strap.

"Awww, scales!" Lance said, looking into the screen as he move the handle quickly. Artha walked up to him and pressed the off button, turning off the game. "Hey!" Lance complained as he glared at Artha.

"C'mon, lets get Beau and Frachun ready. The others will be here in a few minutes!"

-------------------

"Okay Beau, you think you can mag the cooler?" Artha asked his dragon as he pushed the heavy cooler in front him.

Beau nodded happily as gold-colored mag energy formed around his body, sending out a stream at the cooler. The cooler glowed as Beau magged it onto his back. Beau smiled, his teeth showing.

"Thanks, boy!" Artha said as he turned around to find Kitt and Wyldfyr standing at the entrance of Beau's stable along with Parm, Cyrano, and the others who were coming were behind her.

"There you are, Stable Boy!" Kitt said, her hands placed on her hips.

"We've been waiting for you at the entrance of your father's stable for nearly two hours!" Parm added as Cyrano walked up beside Kitt and Wyldfyr.

"What?! You guys waited that long?!" Artha exclaimed.

"Just kidding! Are you and Lance ready to go?" Kitt asked him.

"Yeah, let's get going!" he said as he and Lance mounted their dragons and walked out of Beau's stable.

Lance looked around to find his friend Spratt and his own dragon Bumpyr. "Hey, Spratt!" he greeted.

"Hey, Lance!" Spratt replied his and Lance's dragons walked up to each other, enough for them to bump their fists together in a friendly hello.

"I can't believe you guys talked me into going camping with all of you!!" Vociferous complained for the millionth time. He felt as if he had better things to do than sleeping outdoors. He wished Spynn was here to keep him company, but apparently she was too busy to come. The only one he brought with him was his dragon, Swavvy, who was still tired from waking up early. And he disliked hanging around with the other crews just as much as Vociferous.

Beside him was Marianis, who whacked him on the head with her fighting staff, telling him to be quiet. Fortunately, he was wearing a helmet to lessen the blow. "Stop complaining, Vociferous! Camping should be a good excerise for you!" she said as she gave him a stern look. She brought her dragon, Poseidos, and her partner Dorsull, along with his dragon, Highdyve. Marianis thought it was a good idea to bring the fastest racer in her crew, seeing that he liked adventures... and fishing.

Vociferous rolled his eyes at her, pretty much ignoring her. _Can't believe I'm camping with these guys! Guess I'll have some fun scaring them at least..._

"Get a little fired up, Vo!" Pyrrah said as she shook the Voice of the Dragon leader's shoulder playfully. She and her brother, Sparkk were already excited to go camping. Their dragons, Phorrj and Ferno were wide awake as well. It seemed that they were the only crew to be heated up this time of day.

Next to Pyrrah was Phistus, who somehow snucked into sleeping again. He was leaning against the back of Brutaris's saddle, snoring fairly loudly and drooling, too. Brutaris was still on his feet, eyes drooping and almost falling asleep.

"Wakey, wakey, Phisty!" giggled Chute as she reached out her finger to poke his cheek persistantly. She and Turbulance were just as active as the Dragon Flares. "You're not suppose to sleep until we get into our sleeping bags, which should be in like...eighteen hours!"

Turbulance grinned as she rose up onto her hind legs and place her front ones onto Brutaris's left side, who's massive body supported her. The Sky-class dragon reached out her muzzle to Phistus's face and gave him big, wet licks on his cheek.

Chute laughed,"Good one, girl!"

"Haha! Phistus got dragon kisses!" Lance laughed as he pointed out at the Grip of the Dragon leader. Everyone laughed as well.

"Ewwww!" Kitt giggled. At least she wasn't being given dragon kisses at the moment.

Phistus startled awake as he touched his left cheek, only to find it coated with a slimey substance. "Ugh!!" Phistus was disgusted as looked indignantly at Chute.

Chute looked back innocently, giving him a sweet smile."What? That wasn't me!" she laughed. Turbulance quickly looked away, still grinning mischeviously.

Phistus sighed and rolled his eyes before turning to Artha. "You ready to get going?"

"Yeah! But where's Wulph, Ferryt and Khatah? And Kawake and Shaynn?" Artha asked him as looked at the gathered group,"And Moordryd and Cain?"

Phistus yawned."We'll be picking them on our way to the campsite..." The Grip of the Dragon leader was about to fall asleep, eyes getting droopy by the second. Chute poked his cheek again to ensure awareness for the rest of day. Phistus lazily tried to swat her hand, but she pulled away to then watch him swatting the air. She laughed again.

"Okay...but where's Stewardd?" Artha asked as he looked around once more.

Parm shrugged,"We haven't seen him yet..."

"Oh! Oh wait!" a hasty voice called out from behind the gathered group,"We're here!"

The group turned their heads around to find a rather small, light green, bipedal dragon running in towards them, carrying a small, pointed eared fellow wearing a mess of gears and strange attires on. The larger dragons made way as the smaller dragon passed them. It only appeared to as big as Fracshun, though it seemed slightly taller.

Vociferous covered his mouth, trying to hold back a laugh. _What is that?!_

Pyrrah clasped her hands together joyfully, her mouth was ajar as she watched the little dragon passed Phorrj. "What a cuuute, little dragon!!"

Sparkk rolled his eyes at her and shook his head.

"Thank you!" said the light green dragon's rider, "His name is Gunny."

"Hey, Stewardd! I was wondering where you were!" Artha greeted Gunny's rider.

"Ah, sorry...Gunny got distracted on the way..." Stewardd replied as Gunny made angry clicks at him.

"Don't worry about it," Artha said before looking at others,"Now that most of us is here, let's go pick up the rest of the guys and we can begin camping!"

"Finally!!" Vociferous bursted out loud. Again, Marianis whacked him on the head with her fighting staff.

----------------------

The remaining riders and dragons were waiting outside the Dragon Eyes compound, occupiying themselves by talking to one another and playing simple games.

"I thought you didn't like camping, Wulph," Khatah asked the Army of the Dragon leader. He and Shock-Ra were sort of bored of waiting for the others to arrive with Artha and Lance, their noble stances were fading away a bit.

"Huh? Who told you that?" Wulph asked him. He actually enjoyed some parts of camping. It provided excerise and offered some good relaxation, as Khatah said, something that he needed. Ferryt and their dragons tagged along with him, as they liked camping, too.

"Ferryt," Khatah replied.

Wulph turned to his partner with a commanding look upon his face. Ferryt merely gave him a nevous smile.

Kawake and Shaynn were arm-wrestling one another, one testing the other's strength. Kawake would usually win, his bulking muscles even seemed to surpass the size of Phistus's slightly. Like their riders, Rumbyll and Persyst would engage in their own contests. Usually, the game would be "Who can shake the earth the loudest?".

"You've got stronger, Shaynn!" Kawake complimented as tried to take down his younger brother's arm down.

"Been excerising my arms to beat you, bro!" Shaynn replied, his arm pushing foward to bring down Kawake's arm.

A few yards away, Cain was complaining to Moordryd."Why are we camping with them? I thought you hated camping..." Cain said lazily. Coershun was sleeping from underneath him. The dragon had somehow learned to sleep while standing on his legs, something that made Decepshun snicker.

"I do hate camping!" Moordryd snapped at him,"The only reason we tagged along was because if we stayed here, that Connor Penn would have Down City Security watching over us while Stable Brat and his friends are away, thinking that we would cause trouble around Dragon City..."

"Is that the _only _reason?" Cain asked.

Moordryd smirked as he reached into his vest to pull out a black controller, the gear that summoned Wraith dragons. "Let's have some fun with the others..."

Cain grinned as Artha and the other riders and dragons arrived. Moordryd quickly hid the Wraith control gear into his vest.

"There you are, Penn!" Wulph greeted,"We've been waiting for the rest of you."

"Well, now we're here! You guys ready?" Artha asked.

Khatah, Wulph, and Ferryt nodded as Kawake and Shaynn gave him thumbs up in a yes.

"Let's just get going!" Moordryd said rather rudely as he and Decepshun walked passed Artha and Beau.

"Well, good morning to you, too..." Artha muttered.

"Don't worry about him," Chute said reassuringly,"He's probably just grumpy from waking up early, like ol' Phisty!"

Artha smiled at her as he and others headed into the streets of Dragon City. The sky was now a mild indigo with a white, fading moon moving slowly across the dark complexion. The streets were empty and only the voices of the group and stamping of the dragons' feet could be heard for now.

"By the way, Artha...Have you ever been outside the cities before?" Chute asked him.

"Umm...no...at least, I don't remember..." Artha answered. He wondered what it was like beyond the cities. The skyscrapers of Dragon City were so tall that you couldn't see the sky that much and there were so many of them for nearly miles. Not a trace of forests could be seen from behind them.

"You haven't? Oh, you're going to love it!" she said excitedly.


	2. The Dragon Forest

Heh, sorry it took so long! ; I'll try not to make you guys wait so long again.

Enjoy!

Disclamer: I do not own Dragon Booster. I own this Dragon Forest, though.

P.S. Feel free to give me some ideas as long as it doesn't change the main plot much. I'll give you credit for the said idea(s).:)

* * *

**The Dragon Forest**

Artha peered at the morning light before him as he and the others neared the exits of Dragon City. He was almost falling asleep and Beau had shake his own head to rattle Artha into staying awake. Even Chute had to poke him in the cheek like she did with Phistus.

"Wake up, sleepy head!" Chute giggled as she poked Artha's cheek.

Artha struggled to open his eyes and he realized that he was drooling on the saddle. "We've been walking for hours..."

Chute giggled again,"Well, first off, it's the dragons who are doing the walking. And second, it's only been like seven minutes."

Artha groaned as he rested his arms and head on the saddle to go back to sleep.

"Don't worry! We're almost there!" Chute said cheerfully.

There were less skyscrapers surrounding them now and the fading night sky was no longer shrouded by the towering buildings. The group was now exiting the cities, them air surrounding them became fresher, like they were officially breathing for the first time. A scarlet red sun was rising over the horizon as Artha and the other headed down the road that lead to an endless, rolling grassfield scattered with lovely flowers. Artha had no idea that things like these existed outside Dragon City, now cherishing his father's suggestion to go camping.

The dragons instinctively walked onto the grassfield, standing on a nice hill that overlooked the rest of the terrain. Beau smiled, growling happily at this new sight. It was so unfamiliar to him and yet he's already finding it to be very pleasent place. Rumbyll inhaled deeply, taking in the floral and earthly fragrace and exhaled loudly, laying down onto the ground with a good thud and causing dandelion clock seeds to fly into the air all around him. Fracshun looked at the floating seeds and tried to take a bite of one them, his tail wagging. Coershun looked at the ground beneath himself and wiggled his claws. He smiled, happy to be standing on something natural unlike metal and concrete of the cities.

"Wow! We should really go outside more often!" Artha said to Kitt and Parm. Too busy racing and training to be the Dragon Booster has kept him away from all this. He'll have to thank his father for the suggestion he comes back home.

"Heh, we really should, Stable Boy..." Kitt replied as she gazed at the fields.

"Incredible, if I must say! Dragon City never has any of this within itself! Not even a little..."Parm replied as Cyrano sniffed the tiny daisies, almost pulling off the petals by his inhaling alone.

Chute dismounted Turbulance, setting her right hand over her eyes to shade away the light that was slowly peeking from behind the grassland before her. She looked around as Shaynn jumped off Persyst's saddle, also in awe of the pleasant sight. "Hey, Shaynn!" Chute called to him with a smirk,"Race you to that rock formation there." She pointed at the large, blunt boulder in the distance ahead before her and Shaynn.

"Ha! You're on!" Shaynn obilged with a grin.

But Chute was already running down the hillside, laughing like a little kid as Turbulance followed her. "Woo-hoo!!! I'm already beating you!"

"Scales!" Shaynn muttered as he chased her down the hill to the rock formation with Persyst at his side.

"Heh heh! Drac!" Lance cheered, dismounting Fracshun as he looked at Spratt and Sparkk, "I'll race you guys down to that rock, too!"

"Yeah!!" the other two boys agreed as they jumped off their dragons.

"Yeah! C'mon, Fracshun! Let's beat 'em!" Lance exclaimed as he ran down the hillside with Fracshun at his side. Spratt, Sparkk and their dragons followed afterward, laughing happily.

Kawake watched them all as they raced each other, their open race tracks unbounded by metal and buildings. Though he smiled, he wished he could run with them and their dragons. How he wished to move his legs again, but forever it seemed that he himself was bounded to the wheelchair since he was paralyzed. But Rumbyll was always there to support him.

Wulph saw the saddened expression of the Will of the Dragon leader and felt immediate sympathy for him. "You know you're not really paralyzed..." he said to Kawake, with a stern but reassuring voice.

Kawake looked at Wulph unexpectedly, his opinions about this stoic crew leader were changing. Even when seems like Wulph is trying not to sound like a softy, there's always a hint that he's giving out some sort of helpfulness of his own kind.

"You just think you're paralyzed...when you're really not...and supposed you'd already know that..." Wulph replied as he and Hyve turned away and headed down the hillside with the rest of the group who were following the racers to the rock formation.

Shaynn panted as he and Persyst finally reached the finish mark where Chute and Turbulance rested comfortably on the large rock formation, looking as if they have been waiting for forever for them. Shaynn looked at Persyst and said, "Well that was fun, huh?" Persyst rolled his eyes at him.

Chute giggled,"Haha! Beat ya!" Turbulance grinned, her white teeth showing.

Shaynn laughed, "Whatever..."

The other boys' dragons were already at the rock, resting on the ground and watching their little rider walk up to them all exhasted.

"That's not fair, Fracshun!" Lance complained as he panted and fell back onto the grass. But his dragon merely smirked at him with pride.

"Yeah! That isn't fair, Bumpyr!" Spratt agreed as he sat down next to Lance, followed by Sparkk.

The rest of the group reached the rock at last, most were enjoying the views. Moordryd, however, seemed to show no interest in the outdoors. He was only tearing up flowers he picked up into tiny bits. Phistus was back to sleep yet again while Brutaris only had the smallest dose of awareness in him left.

"So, is this where we're going to camp out?" Parm asked the group around him.

"Nah," Chute replied as she jumped in front of him, startling Parm, "We're camping in there!" She pointed to her left, where a great, endless wall of trees and untamed of wilderness stood only thirty feet away.

Parm gulped, "In there? The Dragon Forest?!" He shivered at the thought of what might be lurking within its darkest contents.

"C'mon, Parm," Artha said as he placed his right hand on his terrified friend's shoulder,"How bad could it be?"

"There are dangerous creatures in that enviornment!" Parm stammered, "There are wild dragons and poisonous snakes a-and ghosts!!!"

"Don't worry, Parm!" Chute said helpfully, "As long as we're together, nothing bad will happen to us. 'Kay?"

"O-okay..."

---------------------------------------

The group and their dragons carried on into the Dragon Forest, where they found a wide clearing within it. It was a nice, large patch of soft grass at least sixty feet in diameter with two feet tall grass surrounding it. Not too far was a fresh, clear river running near the would-be campsite. Fishes were swimming freely in it, some were jumping out. The group looked all around at their surroundings as Artha dismounted Beau and walked over to the patch, inspecting it as Beau gently pawed the ground happily.

"This looks like a nice place, don't you think?" Artha said, pleased with the area.

Beau smiled and nodded his head.

"Drac!" Lance exclaimed as he walked around the patch, Fracshun following close behind. They found a nice spot and sat on it."Me and Fracshun get this spot!"

"Nuh-uh!" Spratt objected,"Bumpyr and I wanted this spot, too!"

"No," Sparkk cutted in,"Ferno is bigger than any of your dragons so he and I get this spot!"

"Nuh-uh!" Lance complained.

"Yeah-huh!" Sparkk replied back.

"Nuh-uh! You guys can move somewhere else! Me and Bumpyr get this spot!" Spratt announced.

Kitt shook her head at them. The boys' arguement continued for a while until Parm walked up to them.

"Why don't you three _share_ the spot instead? Hmmm?" Parm suggested, hoping they would agree.

"No way!!" the younger boys shouted in unison and their bickering continued once more.

Parm sighed and turned to his Bull-class dragon,"Cyrano, help!" But Cyrano only growled confusingly and cocked his head at him, completely puzzled. Parm smacked his forehead in irritation. Artha rolled his eyes at them.

"Nuh-uh!" Lance shouted.

"Yeah-huh!" Spartt shouted back.

A sudden, thunderous roar then ringed into the boys' ears, sounding dangerously close. They ran around, screaming their heads off for a moment before stopping to see who did the roar. Lance turned around to find Hyve standing on the spot he pick out before his friends began debating with him. Beside Hyve was Wulph, who had his arms crossed and beared a serious expression on his face. Lance and the others remained quiet."Since you three can't decide properly on who gets this spot, I shall decide for you. And I've decided that Hyve and I should have this spot. Any questions?"

Lance, Spratt and Sparkk exchanged looks and said,"No." They then walked away with their dragons to find a different spot, leaving Wulph with a smirk upon his face.

"Humph!" Parm muttered as he turned away to find his own spot and step up his tent."What a show-off!"

Kitt shook her head at him and chuckled,"What's wrong, Professor? Jealous 'cause Wulph and Hyve can handle little kids' problems and arguements better than you and Cyrano can?"

"What?! No!! Why would I be jealous of some hard-headed crew leader like Wulph?" Parm snapped at her as he tried to pull out a pole from his pack for the tent, accidentally hitting himself on the chin when it came loose.

"Hmm...I don't know, Professor...but it seems like you are jealous of him!" Kitt replied as she began to set up her own tent next to Parm's with Wyldfyr's help.

Artha laughed,"Parm? Jealous 'cause he thinks someone else is smarter than him? I don't believe it!" Beau laughed with him.

"I am not jealous!!!" Parm screamed and quickly realized that everyone was looking at him, including Wulph. Parm gulped and laughed neverously.

"Heh, whatever you say, Parm..." Artha said.

As Artha and his friends pitched their tents together, Vociferous was sitting cross-legged on his spot while Swavvy was resting on the ground next to him like a lazy, big cat. "What should the first prank be? Who should be my first victim?" the Voice of the Dragon leader muttered to himself.

"Hey, Vociferous," Shaynn, who already had his tent built, called to him," aren't you going to make your tent?"

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry! I'll get to it!" Vociferous replied rudely as he reached for his pack and started tugging out his tent fabric and poles. He began by hammering down the stakes with a large rock he found lying next to him into the ground as Wulph watched him and shook his head, thinking that the Voice of the Dragon leader had no idea how to build a tent properly.

Wulph and Ferryt had their tents built, ones that were a bit bigger than most the other tents in the campsite. The Army of the Dragon crew leader was scanning the area with Hyve while Ferryt was sitting outside next to his tent, eating dragonola bars with Pursoot lying down next to him. Wulph was to ensure that no sort of danger would come about upon the group he was camping with, making sure that everyone is safe and in good condition throughout the whole time while camping.

When Kawake was finished pitching his own tent, he went over to the three younger boys who were trying to built their shelters. Sparkk and Spratt were getting help from Pyrrah and Chute whereas Lance was the only one without any sort of help from anyone other than Fracshun. Even Artha was too busy talking to Parm and Kitt to hear him. But the younger brother was stubborn enough to try building his tent on his own...and eventually ends up hog-tying himself with the ropes.

"Scales!" Lance uttered out a yell as he tried to wiggle his tied limbs free. Fracshun attempted to pull apart the ropes with his jaws, but his teeth weren't strong enough to tear them apart and he ended up dragging his rider along the grass instead. "Fracshun!" Lance complained.

The little Energy-class dragon released the ropes and looked at him, wondering what to do. The ropes weren't really needed anyway when Lance brought the kind of tent with the poles to set it up rather than using wooden stakes.

"Do you need help, young one?" Kawake's great and warm voice asked Lance. The Will of the Dragon leader and his giant Earth-class dragon stood over him like towering statues, expressions were caring and fatherly.

"Uh-uh, I can do it myself!" Lance said proudly. The young boy prefered to work by himself and Fracshun didn't always approve that path.

Kawake shrugged and began to turn his wheelchair around to find his own younger brother,"Alright then..." But he expectantly waited for Lance's answer.

"Uhh, wait!" Lance called to Kawake,"I guess I do need help..."

Kawake smiled as he motioned to Rumbyll to tear the ropes Lance entangled himself in. Lance stood up and dusted the dirt off his pants, feeling a bit embaressed as Fracshun gave out reassuring chatters to him..

"You may want to plan out where your tent will be before you set it up..." Kawake explained to him as bend down as far as he could to gather the poles on the ground,"And I don't think you need those ropes."

"I just brought them just in case..." Lance said, looking away to pull his attention to something else.

"Why didn't you asked your brother for help, even if he was busy talking to Parm and Kitt?" Kawake asked him as he moved his wheelchair to Lance's side.

"'Cause I wanted to do things on my own..." Lance replied, trying not complain like usual.

"Don't be afraid to ask for help, even when you think you can do things on your own..." the elder man said to him. Lance could now only heed Kawake's advice.

Almost everybody's tents were built. Stewardd's light green, dome-shaped tent was built between Parm and Ferryts tents. Though it was smaller than the other two, it could still shelter both him and Gunny. The small, pointed-eared fellow was walking his tent, looking for the Scavenger-class dragon. "Gunny, where'd you go?" he called out. But Gunny wasn't too far away. He was playing around in the taller grass behind his riders tent, only having his tail seen waving about above the surface. "Gunny!" Stewardd called to him when he spotted his dragon. Gunny looked up from the grass, smiling and wagging his long tail.

Chute had her white and light blue tent built between Pyrrah's fiery-colored tent and Phistus's large, green one. The Dragon Wind leader merely had her tent next to Phistus's just so she would constantly bug him in the early mornings. "Phisty, where are you? Wanna go hiking later?" she called out to the Grip of the Dragon leader, walking over to the entrance of his tent and yet only to find him snoring loudly and peacefully asleep on his half-way unrolled up sleeping bag. Chute smiled and chuckled,"Trying to sneak back to sleep, huh? That's fine! How 'bout you, Brutaris?" Chute looked outside to the left side of the tent to find Brutaris also snoring asleep, almost leaning on his rider's shelter. Chute rolled her eyes and shook her head disappointedly,"You guys are sooo lazy!!"

As Vociferous finished making his tent, he looked all around his surroundings, planning the first prank of the camping trip. He saw that Khatah was about done pitching his shelter, fixing the poles and unrolling his sleeping bag. The Inner Order leader was near the flowing river, which gave the devious Voice of the Dragon a harmless idea. Vociferous smirked at the thought of his plan and quickly hid into his own tent. He reached his hand into his back pack and pulled out a long, black-colored, curly object. "What can frighten an Inner Order crew leader?" he asked himself and laughed mischievously, "Let's find out..."

Not far from the rest of the campers, Moordryd and Cain had built their tents within the tall grass and near the trees, away from the others and especially Artha and his close friends.

"Moordryd, we shouldn't be camping here! There might be dangerous predators in these forests! And we might be their breakfast the next morning!" Cain whimpered as hid in his tent and underneath his sleeping bag.

"Don't be such a hatchling, Cain! And quit hiding! It's not even eight 'o clock yet!" Moordryd warned as he spied from among the grass stalks and observed the others.

"So now that we're here, what do we do?" Cain asked him.

"To play around with the Stable Brats and the rest of the silly little council, of course! I got the wraith dragons on our side...and when night falls, the real fun will begin!" Moordryd laughed maliciously as Cain grinned nervously.

Meanwhile, as Khatah left his tent to find Shock-Ra, Vociferous stealthly sneaked into the Inner Order leader's tent. He chuckled as he pulled out the long, black object from his pocket, placed it on Khatah's sleeping bag and quickly rushed out and retreated into his own tent. Vociferous was trying not to snicker so much as Khatah walked back into his shelter...

"SNAKE!!! SNAKE!!!" Khatah screamed as he struggled about in his tent, trying to escape. His tent collasped all over him and he fell over onto the ground, still screaming.

Shock-Ra watched his rider roll along the grass, wondering what in Magnus Draconis's name is going on with him. Vociferous was rolling on the ground laughing like crazy as everbody else watched Khatah. Marianis directed her attention to the Voice of the Dragon leader, her expression was full of indignance toward his actions.

"Hey, look. Someone made the first prank," Moordryd said as he watched the riot. Cain looked up and saw the group gather around a wrapped up Khatah.

Vociferous laughed harder, tears running down his cheeks as poor Khatah finally rolled and splashed into the river. "Do it again!!" he laughed out loud.

"You're such as jerk!" Marianis snapped at him as she and Shaynn hurried to Khatah to help him up.

Vociferous rolled his eyes at her and turned around only to find Kawake, Wulph, Pyrrah, and Chute standing in front of him with indignance. He gulped, "What? It was just a joke! C'mon! You can take a joke, right?"

"You got yourself a lot of explaining to do," Wulph growled at him.


End file.
